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William Sherlock Scott Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is the world's only "Consulting Detective"; a profession he has created for himself. He is shown to have a keen interest in unusual or bizarre crimes, without which he rapidly becomes bored, relying on nicotine to keep his brain 'active'. Holmes is a thinker and an observer. His ability to notice and draw deductions from seemingly trivial details is unrivalled, and is his main tool in solving the crimes he investigates. However, his unusual (in some ways anti-social) personality has led to many in the official police force distrusting and disliking him. Sherlock states that he is a "high-functioning sociopath," however statements from Moriarty and Sherlock's own actions and character development suggest that this is not quite true. He remarks in "The Hounds of Baskerville" that he only has "no friends - just one", John Watson. They live at 221B Baker Street, which they rent from Mrs. Hudson at a discounted rate because of Sherlock's help in getting her husband executed. Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock's landlady, takes care of many of his needs, like washing his clothes and making food, even though she seems to do so begrudgingly. Sherlock in turn is very protective of her - even throwing a man out of a window after deducing that he had struck Mrs. Hudson. His relationship with Detective Inspector Lestrade began as one of necessity, as Lestrade acknowledges that some crimes cannot be solved by traditional police methods, and Sherlock needs someone to bring him in on cases. Over the course of the second season, it appears that Lestrade has become someone that Sherlock would consider a friend. Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older brother, is the only other Holmes that has appeared on screen and the two have a rocky relationship at best. However, in 'A Study in Pink', Mycroft remarks to Sherlock that they have more in common than he (Sherlock) likes to think. There are many examples of this throughout the show, one being that both of them prefer to text when they cannot talk directly to others, (this being demonstrated quite often, as he texts John and many other people frequently, often telling people to text, rather than call him). Despite the unstable relationship, Sherlock and Mycroft are seen to pay attention and care about each other quite a bit, knowing about each other's personal lives, and with Mycroft asking Sherlock for favors. In return, Mycroft has his own way of keeping tabs on Sherlock, having a high level of governmental security placed on him and John. The two are seen to spend time with each other, Sherlock having 'acquired' one of Mycroft's security cards, and when Mycroft finds out that he uses it, he is more exasperated than angry, despite Sherlock breaching a national security protocol in Mycroft's name. Mycroft later allows Sherlock access to the military base that Sherlock stole his identity to breach. (The Hounds of Baskerville) Sherlock runs his own website, The Science of Deduction which has been turned into a real website as a tie in to the show by BBC. Personality Irene Adler deduces that he believes in a higher power which is himself, an assertion that Sherlock neither confirmed or denied. Like his literary namesake, Sherlock has a profound aptitude for deductive reasoning, which he invariably describes as observing and noticing, ''as opposed to merely s''eeing or knowing. Upon meeting a person, he will often 'scan' them, taking in elements of their appearance and arriving at astonishingly accurate conclusions about their pasts and even their personality. Watson, while initially impressed by this skill, sometimes shows exasperation at this, beratinghim for showing off. However, he is not infallible; saying "there is always something" that he misses or misinterprets. He mistook John's sibling (Harriet) for a male in the first episode due to her masculine nickname; Irene Adler completely defeated his attempts to 'scan' her by appearing naked, and he has (seemingly) mistakenly identified people as homosexuals on two different occasions (John Watson and Jim Moriarty). As shown in The Hounds of Baskerville, Sherlock possesses something that he refers to as his Mind Palace. Watson explains this as a place deep in his subconscious where he stores a great amount of information. Once he accesses this mental database, he can make associations between a wide range subjects and data to find the common denominator between them. To use this skill, he needs to have silence and space to himself, demanding that others in the room leave him alone so as to not interfere. Holmes has shown skill in hand-to-hand and armed combat, being a master of Judo (as shown by the certificate hanging above his bed) sometimes using his deductive reasoning to identify weaknesses of his opponents before he strikes them. However Watson's military training seems to be superior to his (though this may have appeared so as John had taken him by surprise and he may have been holding back), and he was soundly beaten by the professional assassin known as the 'Golem'. However, he did bring down an assassin in one blow, successfully disarmed an American operative with a gun, and fought off a group of terrorists with a sword. Sherlock has a manipulative streak, and in multiple instances has used this ability to his advantage. For instance, in "The Blind Banker" he is trying to convince Molly, who has a crush on him (whether or not he is aware of this is unknown), to let him see some bodies that she normally would not have the authority to take out. When he sees that his argument is a losing battle, he suddenly pauses and notices aloud that she changed her hair, saying, "It suits you better this way," which placates Molly enough to break the rules for him. In another situation, during "The Hound of Baskerville," he needs to test out a drug and sneaks it into John's coffee. When John tries to say "I don't take sugar" Sherlock effectively uses the "kicked puppy" look to guilt John into finishing the drink. There are moments when Sherlock does not seem to realise that he occassionally upsets people with his accurate deductions about their personal lives, most often delivered quite tactlessly. When he pointed out to Molly that her boyfriend Jim (Moriarty) was gay (a disguise) he seemed surprised when she ran away upset, stating that he had just been saving her time, thinking it was kinder. Although he seems to be a cold-hearted intellectual, Sherlock does have a kind, caring side, and although barely shown it wins over many people. For example, when John's girlfriend Sarah was kidnapped by Chinese smugglers, Sherlock focused on saving her rather than catching the smugglers themselves, and comforted her gently while untying her, even though he had not seemed to like her much previously. We also see him in "The Hound of Baskerville" comforting and successfully dissuading a man who was trying to commit suicide. He is also very protective of those he cares about; when he deduces that an American operative punched the defenceless Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock ties him up and throws him out of the window. He also says that if Mrs. Hudson was to leave, "England would fall" (A Scandal in Belgravia). This shows he doesn't take her for granted as is often thought, and does in fact care deeply for her. Watson and Sherlock share a very interesting relationship. Watson is intelligent, though not as intelligent as Sherlock, yet lacks Holmes' observational skills and his unique insight into crime. Watson however does have great insight in his analysis of relationships, which Sherlock may dismiss - especially between Sherlock and Miss Irene Adler. He pipes up that Sherlock and Irene might be "looking for baby names" although he knows Sherlock would not understand this reference. He protects Sherlock as much as he can, such as in "The Blind Banker" when shots are fired, Watson immediately goes to help him although it is unclear how he plans to do this, and in "The Great Game" where he helps him fight the Golem. Sherlock doesn't generally appear to appreciate Watson's risks, but he does confess to Watson that he "doesn't have friends, just one" and amusingly never denies it when people assume incorrectly that they are partners. This is possibly because he doesn't understand or care about relationships, that he enjoys exasperating Watson and laughing at his insistence on his heterosexuality, or it could simply be the creators allowing the possibility of a relationship for fanservice purposes. Trivia *Sherlock is a redhead in the Unaired Pilot, and a brunet throughout the rest of the series. Category:Characters